IN THIS GUIDE · Settle who directs the business before two equal partners buy a U.S. hauling operation
Start with the E-2 eligibility and application overview
Confirm nationality at the ownership level
The enterprise must be at least fifty percent owned by nationals of the treaty country, here Canada. Two Canadian citizens owning all of the shares satisfies that. If one partner is a Canadian permanent resident rather than a citizen, that partner's share does not count as treaty-national ownership, and a fifty-fifty split with one non-citizen would leave the enterprise exactly at the threshold with only one qualifying investor. Verify each partner's citizenship before the share structure is finalized rather than after. Check nationality with passports and ownership with the issued equity records, not with an informal understanding between partners. A later transfer can change the treaty-national ownership calculation.
Write the control arrangement into the operating agreement
The applicant must be in a position to develop and direct the business, which is ordinarily shown by owning at least half of it or by having operational control through a managerial position or other corporate device. With equal partners, each can qualify if the agreement gives each partner a genuine role in directing the business; a fifty-percent owner who has negative control, meaning nothing can happen without their consent, can meet the test. What does not work is an agreement that leaves one partner a silent investor. Have the lawyer draft duties, voting rights and deadlock provisions before the money moves. Write down who can hire, sign contracts and direct operations. A title alone is thin evidence when the agreement gives all meaningful authority to the other investor.
Show that each partner's money is real, committed and at risk
Each applicant's contribution needs its own source-of-funds trail: farm income, a land sale, a loan secured against the partner's own Canadian property. Loans secured by the assets of the U.S. business being purchased do not count as investment. The funds must be committed irrevocably, which is satisfied by payment or by escrow that releases only on visa issuance, and they must be subject to loss if the business fails. Bring the purchase agreement, the escrow instructions and the bank records showing the transfers. Map every dollar from lawful source to the business account, escrow or seller. Money retained in a personal account for an indefinite decision is not the same as money exposed to the enterprise's loss.
Prove the business is substantial and not marginal
Substantiality is judged relative to the cost of buying or establishing this business; paying the full documented cost of a transport operation can support the test, but no purchase automatically satisfies it. Marginality is different: the enterprise must have the present or future capacity to generate more than a minimal living for the investors or to make a significant economic contribution, with future capacity generally realizable within five years. Prepare a business plan with the trucks, the seasonal contracts, driver hiring and projected revenue. The plan should be realistic; an inflated forecast is easier to challenge than a modest one. E-2 status has no direct path to permanent residence. Test the forecast against signed orders, payroll assumptions and the actual equipment capacity. The question is whether the business can grow beyond supporting the owners, not whether a spreadsheet can be made to balance.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.